


Communications 101

by AmberSkye



Category: Megamind (2010)
Genre: 'its a oneshot' i say writing the next two chapters, F/M, i love my two awkward nerds, i'd like to thank setepenre_set for literally everything they write being amazing and inspiring this, the college au only i needed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-24 23:09:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16185149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmberSkye/pseuds/AmberSkye
Summary: Or: How To Find An Alien Boyfriend in a Semester Or LessRoxanne thinks Megamind doesn't get the credit he deserves. Megamind is kind of awkward, but probably a supergenius. Throw in a group project, unstated coffee dates, and a flamethrower, and you've got the basis of a true relationship.





	Communications 101

**Author's Note:**

> So like I mentioned in the tags I love setepenre_set's fics and so I definitely borrowed some terminology from their headcanons?? If you see this Set and want me to change anything let me know and I definitely will. 
> 
> This is kind of a quick burn version of what I have in my head and have no time to write out but there might be more oneshots in the future, like Roxanne getting her hair cut to the style of the movies C:

The first time Roxanne spoke to Megamind was in their Metro City University freshman Communications class. 

The teacher was big on presentations, like so big Roxanne wondered if he had a deal going with PowerPoint, or something. Hers was a well-thought out and efficient if a bit cut and dry examination of the gentrification of downtown Metro City. It got some polite clapping, she had seen a few people take some notes on it. It bored one kid to sleep and she thought maybe it bored the teacher, too. 

Well. They couldn’t all pass out expensive bakery cookies like that rich kid Wayne to win their grade. She flushed and for once let her long hair hide her face instead of tying it back. She really would love to cut it and end the problem, but then what would she hide behind in embarrassment?

“Some, hmm, interesting conclusions drawn by Roxanne. Good job up there. Next is --” the professor actually wrinkled his nose at the list and in the tone of someone suffering a great loss said, “Megamind.”

It was messed up, how they treated him. The teachers had no problem calling Wayne ‘Junior Defender’ to his face like that wasn’t ridiculous, but a lot of them refused to call Megamind that at all, referring to him vaguely. Maybe she’d do a PowerPoint on that and see what ‘interesting conclusions’ she could draw.

Megamind sat right in front of her, and she heard the soft intake of breath and saw him square his shoulders. He marched up to the front like someone going in front of a firing squad, but started his presentation strong. He always did. He sort of. . .rambled, and sometimes gave something sounding more like a soliloquy than a speech, but it was always, always interesting. She looked forward to his speeches the most. And for some reason, no one else did. He was literally talking about how space travel was made possible, and they were bored. The audacity!

Only she clapped at the end. In the silent room, the sound was too-loud and she began to duck back behind her hair. Then she made eye contact with Megamind. His impossibly green eyes were so very expressive, and they shone with gratitude. 

Momma Ritchi didn’t raise a coward. She didn’t need to hide behind hair or anything else. She smiled at him and clapped a second longer for good measure. “Good job,” she said with a smile. He tripped, possibly in surprise? But luckily he was close enough to fall into his seat. 

The teacher called the next name without feedback. 

Communications was her last class of the day, so she pretended it wasn’t creepy that she packed up fast so she could follow him outside just past the school gates to where he was also heading home. “Megamind!” she called.

He froze and when he turned it was almost in a defensive posture, his eyes skimming around her as if looking for others. She looked over her shoulder, but there was no one there. Her brows furrowed. Was he being confronted after classes? He cut off her train of thought. “Ah -- Miss Ritchi. ‘Ollo.” 

She smiled a little at that. He always mispronounced the strangest words, an almost-accent that she couldn’t discern. “Hello,” she responded in kind, awkwardly tugging her ponytail tighter since she really hadn’t thought this through. “Um, just wanted to say that your presentation was really cool. I hadn’t known that there was a time where the people on the moon couldn’t communicate with anyone, and you made it sound so -- poetic, like a Romantic era poem, not boring like the rest of us. So, yeah. Good job.”

He looked at her in silence for a long enough moment that she started to shuffle away back home. That was weird of her, wasn’t it? She should have left well enough alone, he wouldn’t care what she had to say. She hadn’t even talked to him before!

“Your presentation wasn’t boring. It was incredibly insightful.” Megamind looked like he hadn’t meant to say that. Roxanne’s eyes met his and he looked immediately down at his well-worn Doc Martens.  
“You think so? Thank you.”  
“I do! And -- I’m not sure if you were watching, but that part where you were blatantly talking about the Scott family -- you should have seen Wayne’s face, I had to shove that whole cookie of his in my mouth to stop laughing, and then I almost choked when you looked right at him -- oh God I’m rambling again I’m so sorry.” He said it all in one rush and Roxanne was laughing by the end of it.  
“Oh my goodness you noticed! I thought only Wayne even knew what I was talking about, he was so pissed. He’ll never talk to me again, which, you know, no loss.”

Megamind sobered up. “Do you know? I mean, think that? That’s not a popular opinion. . .”  
“Neither is pineapple on pizza being good but that doesn’t stop it from being delicious. And I want to be a journalist, one day. As a kid I wanted to be a detective, even, read all of the Nancy Drew series and Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie. I would pretend to be a detective and started paying attention to all kinds of details. And I found out a lot. Ugh, sorry, watching people is weird of me isn’t it?”

Megamind blinked a few times owlishly at her and gave a self-deprecating smile. “I’m a blue alien, I’m not really sure I can do normal. But! I didn’t mind at all. I think that’s really great! That you want to be a journalist, I mean, not that you felt weird. Obviously. You would be really good at it. I could see you on TV giving a report and calling out the Scotts.”  
Her brows shot up. “On TV? I never thought of that. . .even if you don’t think I’m boring I’m kind of. . .cold. Blunt.” A frigid bitch.  
“And you watch people! Yes! That’s all good. And cool. You’re cool, I mean. Like Sherlock Holmes.”

Her lips twitched and she began to laugh. She’d heard the idea that there were people who liked confident women, she just hadn’t ever run into it herself. She liked the idea. “I think that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”  
“O-oh.” He was blushing, cheeks and neck tinging slightly purple beneath his jacket collar. It was adorable, and. . .her eyes trailed down the collar where the blush ended and she flushed lightly in return as the word ‘attractive’ came to mind. Don’t be stupid, Roxanne, he might not even like humans! 

Time to run and hide under her covers. “I should get going,” she said rather abruptly. He checked his phone and his eyes widened.  
“Yeah. I should too, Min-- I should too,” he repeated awkwardly.  
She could let it drop. But she was nosy. “Do you. . . have siblings?”  
He looked confused by her non-sequitur. “No, I was an only child. Oh, you heard. . . you’re awfully observant. Ah, gotta go,” he said, and waved as he took off at a near run. She smiled to herself all the way home.

Group research paper and presentation. Roxanne frowned to herself, the class hadn’t allowed for much actual communication to go on so she only knew two people in the class, Megamind and Wayne Scott. She’d rather eat her -- sensible but attractive -- shoes than work with Wayne, so her eyes darted to Megamind. Luckily, he was also looking her way and they both shared a smile.

Which was ruined by Scott leaning his whole damn body across her desk and resting his very large chin in his hands. “Hey foxy Roxy.” Could she kill him for calling her that? She made a noise of displeasure but he barreled forward. “Not to disappoint all these lovely ladies,” there were some girls who looked disappointed to see him across her desk, “but would you like to work with me?”  
“You mean like in high school when we got stuck in projects together all the time because our last names were close and then I had to do all the work while you took the credit since I was too shy back then to call you out? No thanks, I’ve got a partner. And I would hate to disappoint your fans.” She smiled icily.

He drew back off of her desk rapidly. “I ah, I didn’t know you still remembered that. Not to worry, Roxy, I’ll just find another partner. This time,” he answered with a grin.  
She sighed heavily and went to sit next to Megamind. “So, were you also thinking about doing our presentation about how patently wrong that lecture on communication in prehistory was?”

Megamind’s eyes widened. “I thought you had a partner?”  
“Wayne? No thanks. I told him to go away. I honestly don’t know if he knows that he ever does anything wrong. Nobody has told him.”  
“You just did.”  
“I told him I didn’t want to be partners, I didn’t try to explain why years of solely positive reinforcement have resulted in a skewed world view.” She laughed lightly. “Maybe he needs a presentation on that.”  
“As long as I can watch you deliver it.”  
She grinned. “No problem. But we’re off topic.”  
“Right, yeah. Something did seem off about that lecture, but I don’t know anything about it.”  
“I’d be happy to explain it! Or we could do something else if you wanted to instead.”  
“I like your idea,” he said with a smile. “We can make the teacher angry together. And you seem passionate about it.”  
“Maybe it's dumb, but I am. There’s a much bigger picture, there. Pictographs that were easily lost since they could wash away, and sign language was definitely a thing. . . we’re going to need to figure out a time to meet up.”  
“My other classes are before this, so. . .anytime after this class.”  
“Ew, morning classes. Tough scheduling?”  
“Ah, not exactly. . .morning classes are easier for me.”  
“Easier how?” She wrinkled her nose. “Aren’t the teachers the same?”  
“Yes. What about the library at three tomorrow? I should go home now.” 

Roxanne’s face fell as she realized she was probably being annoying when he had things to do. “Right. That’ll work just fine. I’ll see you then,” she said with a tight smile.  
Megamind looked like he wanted to say something, but just stood and left. Good going, Roxanne.

The next day at the library she had prepared with some books, post-it notes sticking out at random where she had found quotes to use. She looked at the clock, the time clicking over to three as she watched it. A second later, Megamind rounded the corner. “Wow. Good timing.”  
He gave a very awkward sounding laugh. “I, uh, was doing some homework. Shall we get started?”  
“Sounds good. I’ve got some material here. . .” 

Finishing with a very detailed outline that Megamind had written up, she glanced back up at the clock to see that it had been two hours. “Wow, I didn’t know it had been that long. We made good time though, all things considered. I’m researched out, though.”  
His eyes followed hers and widened slightly. “Oh, wow. I hadn’t noticed either. That’s strange. That you didn’t either.”  
“Well, time flies when you’re having fun and all. Well, I thought it was fun,” she said with a smile.  
“It was,” he commented. There was a pause that began to stretch out into awkwardness.  
“Well, I need to do some work for Anatomy and I’m utterly lost,” she sighed in frustration.  
“Anatomy? I was just working on that for. . .a project. A personal project.”  
“That’s right! You’re like a genius at science stuff, right?”

He blinked quickly. “Ah. . .”  
“Wait, no. That was math. But I guess it overlaps. It’s really cool that you are.”  
“Thank. . .you? I, ah, would you like help?”  
“Are you sure? I would honestly love some help but I wouldn’t want to bore you.”  
“I greatly enjoy our time together, Miss Richi,” he said, then flushed again. She smiled happily, hoping she wasn’t blushing herself.  
“Me too. Want to get some coffee before we start? My treat since you’re tutoring.”  
“I, ah, okay.” 

He’d never been to Starbucks (“I don’t understand their strange code words. Tall and Grande are not the same language. And what in the name of Da Vinci is a macchiato?” “What!? Alright let’s start with the basics --) so that’s where they went.

He downed his frap in two minutes and got a brain freeze, causing her to laugh and nearly choke on her own iced mocha. “Are you alright?”  
“I’m fine,” she said, still giggling. “Starbucks was a success, then?”  
“Most certainly.”  
“Oh gosh, what have I created? Remember there’s nothing in those but sugar and caffeine, so take it easy.”  
“I’m used to high caffeine intakes,” he said with a wave of his hand. “And I need --” he stopped himself and looked down at his shoes. “I seem to consume more sugar than humans.”  
“Oh, okay.” She nodded her understanding, unsure why his mood had dropped. “You. . .didn’t know a lot about your diet needs and things when you were growing up, huh?”

He shook his head in the negative. “No. It was trial and error.”  
“That sucks. Well, I’ll be happy to ply you with sweets if you’re willing to help me study.”  
He looked back up at her and gave a relieved smile. “I’m glad --” it seemed there was going to be more to the sentence, but he dropped it.  
Ever the reporter, she tilted her head a little. They reached a quiet table and she began spreading her things out. “What for?”  
“Nosy, Miss Richi,” he replied, but it had no real bite.  
She grinned up at him. “Yup. I blame you for encouraging me the other day. What’s bothering you?”  
“I don’t like to bring up how inhuman I am,” he said very quickly. “It’s stupid because of course I’ll always be an alien but sometimes people forget, like you. Then I go mess it up by being weird.” 

Roxanne frowned and dropped her backpack to the ground, taking a seat slowly. He joined her, examining his fingernails and not her. “What you told me isn’t weird, even for humans. My mom has diabetes, so she has to be incredibly careful about how much sugar is in her blood, she’s constantly monitoring it. Her body doesn’t create enough something-or-other to process it. She’s not an alien.”  
Megamind shook his head rapidly. “No, I’m sorry, I would never --”  
“You think being alien is a bad thing, but I can’t see why that is. Needing more sugar in your diet is far from you being incompatible with humanity.”  
“I’m weirder than that.” 

“Lots of people are weird.” Megamind fell silent, which was strange because he was usually very talkative. She slid a hand over the table to take one of his. His wide eyes shot up to meet hers. “Obviously I can’t begin to imagine what you’ve had to put up with, but if anyone messes with you, whoever it is, let me know. I’m good at collecting information, remember? I’ll get their ass kicked out so fast --”  
“You cursed.” 

She blinked at him. “Yeah. Sorry?”  
“No. Don’t be. I, um. Let’s get to studying.”  
“Sure, Meg.” Megamind flushed purple at her nickname, so she distracted him with a large packet of anatomy terms she had no idea about. 

When they wrapped up her anatomy homework so she actually understood what was going on, the sun was setting. “Oh my gosh, I hope I didn’t take up all of your time.”  
“No, it's perfectly fine --” he stopped short and pulled out his very dead cell phone. “I’m dead.”  
“You mentioned someone you lived with before? Will they be mad? I can come apologize if I need to, it’s my fault.”  
“No, no, Miss Richi. He won’t be mad, just worried.” 

She beamed. “I’m glad. Here, text him from my phone and let him know you’re on the way and safe. Want to bring him a coffee?”  
“No thanks, he. . . only drinks water.”  
Roxanne screwed up her nose. “Boring.” She slid her phone across the table. “I had a really good time tonight!”  
“Me too. I hope there is another project.”  
“Me too! Um, is there any other homework you need help on? This could be a thing? Study days with coffee?”  
“Are you sure? You probably have better friends.”  
“My other friends aren’t as smart as you,” she said with a grin. “But honestly, you’re more fun to hang out with. You always have something interesting to say.” Also her high school best friend moved across the country for school, and she’d really only had the one so all her friends now were really just acquaintances, but that was kind of a buzzkill.

His mouth dropped open. “Thank you, Miss Richi. I’d be happy to, then. Same time next week?”  
“I’ll see you at three!” 

They parted ways, and Roxanne was left with the strangest feeling, like she had just been on a successful date. But that was ridiculous, wasn’t it? Yeah. Totally.

The next week she made good on her promise of sweets by having the coffee ready and bringing cookies as well. They had a very carb fueled study session and promised to meet up the week up after that. Just as she was arriving to the library, she got a text from Megamind saying he was putting the finishing touches on a project and it couldn’t be left alone or it would all fall apart. He seemed very apologetic, there were frowny faces and everything.

She texted back: ‘could i come over to yours then? i have coffee’  
There was a very long pause before, ‘okay’ followed by an address. It was close enough to walk, thankfully, so she just started over. The ice in the cups were a little melty by the time she shifted everything into one hand to ring the doorbell. She looked around. The apartment building itself was nondescript, but there was a motorcycle parked directly outside.

Megamind had a motorcycle. Something about the idea of it made her blush lightly as the door opened and she turned around to come face-to-face with -- her jump of instinctual surprise had her drop the coffee, which the fishbowl-with-a-gorilla-body went to catch. He managed it, actually, but his grip was too strong and the cup just overflowed onto the ground.

Roxanne stood with her mouth open for a long moment. The fishbowl spoke up. “I’m very sorry for scaring you, Miss Ritchi. I was under the impression Sir had explained everything.”

She shook her head slowly, taking a long breath and clacking her jaw shut. “No. And I’m sorry, I hope I didn’t get coffee on anything uncleanable.”  
“Not at alll! Sir just finished designing this suit for me so I have motion. I’m not used to arms. Or strength. He made sure it was easily washable.”  
She giggled a little hysterically. “That would make sense. Um, how do you control it?”

She wondered if she was being punked. Megamind himself had yet to show up. “Oh, that’s the best part! It has a neural transmitter right in the neck that touches the bowl. I’m not sure about all the details, math is a little beyond me, but I can use my thoughts.”  
“That’s amazing. What happens if you’re disconnected from it?”  
“I can’t use it then. Which is a shame because then to most people, I’m just a fish. Sir came up with a method of communicating simple things with me a long time ago, when we were kids, but I prefer movement. Oh my goodness, where are my manners? Please come in. Sir will be out shortly, he got electrocuted and was temporarily on fire, so he’s patching things up.”  
“On fire? Is he okay? Can I do anything?”  
“No, it was very small.”

The fish didn’t seem too bothered, so she swallowed her fear and hoped Megamind was alright. “So, um, what is your name? He seemed reluctant to say.”  
“Oh, I’m Minion. Its both my race and my name.” He leaned in a little to stage whisper, “Sir isn’t that good at coming up with names.”  
Roxanne laughed, but curiosity overrode humor. “So your race are. . .minions to Megamind’s race?”  
“The M’ega, yes. Minion sounds bad, but it really just means a companion.”  
“Are all Minion fish like yourself? Is it expected for the M’ega to make something for you to communicate?”  
“Oh, that’s a great question. No, the M’ega are mostly aquatic people, so they would come and be able to communicate underwater with us. So yes, we’re all fish.”  
“That’s amazing. Wait, if the M’ega are aquatic. . .is Megamind alright out in the sun all the time?”  
“Oh yes, he is quite fine. But he enjoys long baths. Until he gets bored and needs something to do.” 

Roxanne nodded, assimilating all the information as best she could. “Thanks Minion. I know Megamind doesn’t like to talk about it.”  
For the first time Minion lost his chipper tone. “School wasn’t a great place for him, especially when he talked about home.”  
“Home. . .” she said softly. “Can’t he go back? Someone could come pick him up? If he still thinks of it as home. . .”

“The planet was destroyed. I was the last of my kind to survive that I know of.”

Roxanne whirled around to see Megamind in the doorway, no evidence of having been on fire that she could see. Her face fell. How terrible, to bear that burden. “I’m so sorry. I know that can’t mean anything--”  
“It does. Thank you.”  
“For what it's worth,” she said with a tremulous smile, “I’m glad you’re here.”  
Megamind sucked in a small breath. 

There was a long pause. “I’ll just clean up the coffee,” Minion announced a little too loudly.  
“Oh! I’ll help.” Roxanne found paper towels and they both mopped up coffee while Megamind seemed to need a minute to get his emotions under control. They all ended up seated around the couch. 

She was not surprised to note that it was extremely ugly, patterned like her grandmother’s rocking chair with gingham and some kind of swirling design on top of that, in red and gold. The rest of his furniture followed a similar pattern, if it could be called that. Everything was loud and it all looked like it had been salvaged from a thrift store. Also surprisingly, it was very clean. There was a clutter of books and. . .scrap metal. . .but it was dusted and vacuumed.

“So, you’re an inventor? You came up with the suit idea on your own, right?”  
Megamind’s eyes lit up. “Yes, it was a puzzle because I needed a way to sync the neural transmitter to work not only through water, but also compensating for a fish rather than a human, or humanoid, brain. They function very differently, though Minion’s brain is obviously more advanced than an Earth’s goldfish. Not that goldfish are stupid -- did you know they can be taught tricks? They will jump through hoops!”

Roxanne was as thoroughly charmed and impressed as she was confused. “I once had a betta fish that would swirl around in his tank when he wanted fed,” she attempted.  
“Exactly! The behaviors are more learned because they know the results than a matter of deeper thinking. The transmitter had to have the same level of ‘learning’ but from a firing synapse instead of a thought.”  
Roxanne wracked her brain to remember what that meant and then nodded slowly. “So it's like a computer program, where everything is just a yes or no question? If Minion wants to move his arm, it fires a ‘yes’ signal to that part of the suit?”

Megamind grinned, gesturing wildly. “Yes! You’re brilliant. That’s exactly what it is. I programmed the suit, and connected it to the transmitter.”  
“I’m brilliant? You’re the one who did all of this on top of schoolwork. That’s amazing, Megamind, I don’t think anyone else in the world could do something like that.”  
“Neil Degrasse Tyson probably could. And Elon Musk, but he’s volatile.” 

At this Minion looked over from the MasterChef he was watching and added cheerfully, “I don’t think he’s more volatile than you. What about that flamethrower last week?”  
“What did you do with a flamethrower?” Roxanne asked in trepidation.  
“Well, I wanted to get one, but I figured it would be easier to make one. Which I did!” He glared at Minion, who offered a fishy smile. “Be quiet, Minion, I replaced all the fire alarms once they went off.”

Roxanne looked at him, imagining the blaring of alarms as Minion watched on quietly in dismay and Megamind ran around knocking them all off with a broom. She began laughing. “I would have loved to see that. Do you still have the flamethrower?”  
“Yes! Would you like to see it?”  
“Can I use it?” Roxanne asked hopefully.  
“You want -- you want to use it?”  
“Yeah, how cool would that be?”  
“Okay. Okay! Let’s go! We’ll have to use it outside somewhere. . .”  
“What about the park with the lake? If anything happens we can just chuck it in and fish it out later.”

Megamind nodded. “Did you drive here?”  
“No, I walked over. We could. . .could we take your motorcycle?”  
His eyes widened. “You wouldn’t mind riding with me?”  
“No, it’ll be fun.”

He made a somewhat strangled noise in his throat and blushed. Roxanne realized with a blush of her own she was being a little forward. 

Minion waved to them as she swung up on the motorcycle behind Megamind, who put a helmet on her head. She giggled at his concern and they were soon taking off towards the park. She squeaked in alarm at the sensation, wrapping her arms around him. When they got to the park she realized she had been hugging him from behind very tightly and flushed again, unwrapping herself awkwardly. She tucked her hair behind her ear, now a mess from helmet head.

“That was awesome.”  
“You’d never been on a motorcycle before?”  
“No!”  
“You went with me for your first time?” His choice of wording made her look away before she turned even redder. Her heart was beating a little fast and she took a deep breath as she nodded. She met his eyes and smiled. 

If she was in denial before, she couldn’t deny her crush after he had let her use the flamethrower, blasting old homework assignments and scrap paper he found in his backpack to cinders over the lake like extreme skeet shooting. They were both laughing the entire time, even when they accidentally scared a duck to taking off loudly over the water away from them.

Somehow, in trading off using the flamethrower, they ended up very close, her hand brushing his. She looked up at him, tucking her hair behind her ear with a shy smile. “I had a really good time.”  
“Me too.”  
“Do you have other things you’ve made?”  
“Some things. The suit was the best.”  
“I’d love to try them out sometime. I don’t know a lot about how you make them, but I like listening anyway.”  
He played with the end of his sleeve. “Yes. I mean, I would like that. Too.”  
“Good. Then. . .it’s a date?”

Megamind’s jaw dropped. “Haa?” he tried.  
“If you want, I mean. It doesn’t have to be.”  
“It can be! A date. With you and me.”  
She smiled and laughed a little. “Good.”

On the ride back to his apartment -- and then the school where she left her car -- she let herself lean forward happily into his back. Whatever happened, this was going to be an interesting ride.


End file.
